First, thank you to the many people who sent kind messages and good wishes following my decision to step back from publishing Ballina News Daily.

I was genuinely touched by the response. After nearly 18 months producing a daily local news service, it was a difficult decision, but one I needed to make for my health and other priorities.

One of those priorities is now out in the open.

I’m supporting Ballina Mayor Sharon Cadwallader in her campaign for the state seat of Ballina.

Sharon has been a close personal friend for years. We served together on Ballina Shire Council and Rous County Council, and I’ve seen firsthand how she operates.

I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who works harder. She’s tenacious, determined, across the detail and, most importantly, effective. She gets things done.

After three terms of Greens representation in Ballina, I believe it’s time for a change.

Why experience matters

Politics has been part of my life since childhood, growing up during the turbulent Whitlam years in a family where current affairs were often discussed around the kitchen table.

In 1996, I worked on the successful campaign of independent Peter Andren, who won the federal seat of Calare. I subsequently worked in federal Parliament with Andren and went on to work in three ministerial offices. 

I’ve seen the political system from the inside, including the opportunities and challenges facing independents.

But my views about political representation have also been shaped by a much more personal experience.

When the devastating floods struck in 2022, my properties around Lismore went underwater. Like thousands of others, I faced the daunting task of rebuilding and navigating complicated government assistance programs.

The NSW Government introduced some very helpful recovery measures, but accessing them, particularly for businesses, was challenging.

I repeatedly contacted the office of our local state MP, Tamara Smith, seeking assistance. My calls went to an answering machine and, in my experience, weren’t returned.

Eventually, I contacted Lismore MP Janelle Saffin’s office.

Here was a woman who had herself been forced to swim for her life during the disaster, with her electorate office destroyed.

Yet her staff helped me navigate the grant processes and obtain the assistance I needed.

I’ve never forgotten that contrast.

It’s one reason I’ve become disillusioned with the representation we’ve had in Ballina.

I’ve met the new Greens candidate, Mandy Nolan, and found her personable. But I haven’t seen anything that persuades me she would provide the effective kind of representation this electorate needs.

Political analysis or personal attack?

Which brings me to Greens councillor Kiri Dicker and her commentary following Sharon’s announcement.

Less than 24 hours after Sharon declared her candidacy, Dicker was arguing that the decision was a gift to Mandy Nolan and the Greens.

For those who don’t follow Dicker’s social media commentary, and I suspect that includes a fair few people who have found themselves blocked, here’s her argument in a nutshell.

She claims Sharon, Nationals candidate Michelle Bailey and a One Nation candidate will split the conservative vote, allowing the Greens to benefit under NSW’s optional preferential voting system.

But she didn’t stop at electoral arithmetic. Her commentary also questioned Sharon’s motives and political ambitions and suggested tension between the mayor and her council colleague Michelle Bailey.

To my mind, parts of it amounted to personal abuse dressed up as political commentary.

Possibly it stems from Dicker’s own unsuccessful electoral contest with Sharon.

At the 2024 Ballina mayoral election, Cadwallader secured 49.54 per cent of first preferences against Dicker’s 21.48 per cent. After preferences, Cadwallader finished with 68.06 per cent to Dicker’s 31.94 per cent, a margin of 8,202 votes.

It was a contest involving five candidates, but the final count came down to the independent mayor and her Greens challenger.

That doesn’t mean the result can be transplanted into a state election. Different boundaries, candidates and issues will be involved.

But it is a relevant result when discussing Sharon’s electoral support, which cannot simply be assumed to come exclusively from conservative voters.

There’s another omission in Dicker’s arithmetic.

Ballina Shire makes up a substantial majority of the state electorate in terms of actual voters, while Labor’s Janet Swain and the Greens’ Mandy Nolan are both well known in Byron Shire.

Competition for votes is not confined to one side of politics.

Dicker also invokes previous state elections to support her argument. Yet Ballina’s own electoral history shows how important preferences can be.

Tamara Smith originally won the seat with the assistance of preferences. Under NSW’s optional preferential system, voters can allocate further preferences or allow their votes to exhaust.

Those decisions, rather than assumptions about how entire political constituencies will behave, will help determine the result.

Then there’s the suggestion Sharon should have cleared the way for Michelle Bailey.

Why should she?

Sharon had no obligation to seek the Nationals’ permission, give them advance notice or abandon her own plans because another candidate had nominated.

The seat belongs to the voters, not any political party.

As for the apparent attempt to portray Sharon’s candidacy as creating a rift with Michelle, I know both women well.

They’re experienced operators who have worked well together on council. I would be surprised if either were foolish enough to let commentary from an opposing party dictate their relationship.

They’re entitled to pursue different political paths without becoming personal enemies.

What particularly struck me was how quickly the Greens responded to Sharon’s announcement.

Within a day, the electoral arithmetic had been accompanied by Dicker’s unique brand of personal criticism.

I can’t know what motivated that response, but its speed and tone certainly caught many people’s attention.

One local political pundit even told me he’d placed a $200 bet on a Cadwallader victory. That’s hardly a scientific forecast, but it shows how much interest the contest is already generating.

Nobody should be under any illusions about the battle ahead.  The major parties have established organisations, resources and loyal supporters. It’s going to be a fascinating contest.

My one sincere hope though is that this campaign can go forward and be conducted with some dignity.

I’d like to think Mandy Nolan will at least distance herself from what I regard as Kiri Dicker’s personal vendetta against Sharon, rather than allow that kind of commentary to set the tone for the Greens’ campaign.

There are serious issues facing this electorate, from health services and housing to infrastructure and economic development. Every candidate deserves to have their policies and record scrutinised, and voters deserve a contest based on those issues.

Political debate can be robust without descending into personal abuse.

That’s what I expect from this election campaign, and I suspect it’s what most voters expect too.

Main Image: How the Ballina Times reported this week’s big announcement from Mayor Cadwallader.